By Karen Langley

Warren Buffett's dream of awarding $1 million in his company's NCAA bracket contest is coming true.

An employee of FlightSafety International, a subsidiary of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, qualified for the big prize after predicting the winners of 31 of the 32 games in the first round of the men's basketball tournament.

Buffett, Berkshire's chairman and CEO, and his deputies had tweaked the contest's rules to make it more likely that someone would win the $1 million prize.

"I feel good that we sort of hit the sweet spot on this one," Buffett told The Wall Street Journal.

In all, twelve contestants submitted brackets that correctly called 31 of the 32 first-round games, according to Marc Hamburg, Berkshire's chief financial officer.

The winner, who got the outcomes of the first 29 games right, went furthest without a bad call. The other 11 contestants will get $100,000 each.

Buffett said he doesn't know the name of the winner of the $1 million prize and was told the person doesn't want to be publicly identified.

As for the famed stock picker, he delegated the filling-out of his own bracket.

"I don't follow sports like I used to," Buffett said. "I hope I haven't forgotten as much about business as I've forgotten about sports," he added with a laugh.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2025 09:09 ET (13:09 GMT)

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